The critics agree: Not only is the new Ben Stiller/Jonah Hill comedy “The Watch” hard to watch, it’s also, as Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr points out, “the most egregious example of corporate product placement since Tom Hanks shilled for FedEx in ‘Cast Away.'” He’s referring specifically to Costco product placements in “The Watch,” but there’s plenty more plugs where those came from.

But first, the trailer:

In the Sneak Adtack tradition of fairness above all, here’s a guy who did like the movie, although he wasn’t crazy about the product placement:

[I]t would be impossible to watch this film and not walk out feeling like you’d just sat through an hour and a half infomercial on COSTCO, Coca-Cola, Trojan Magnum Condoms, and other blatantly obvious product placement pitches throughout the movie. There are closeups of Budweiser beer cans, Coke cans, Magnum condoms (the box, not the actual condom!) and many other products.

This is obviously product placement run amok, but just watch – it’s only going to get worse.

 

John R. Carroll is media analyst for NPR's Here & Now and senior news analyst for WBUR in Boston. He also writes at Campaign Outsider and It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town.
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